The present invention generally relates to air pollution control, and, more particularly, to the large scale scrubbing of pollutants from air.
One of the great problems currently facing this country, and indeed the world, is that of air pollution. The emissions from pollution producing plants, homes, airplanes and automobiles produce potentially harmful air, particularly in and around large cities. Cleaning this air after it is in the atmosphere is a formidable task. Scubbers on smoke stacks, unleaded gasoline, and carpooling plans seek to reduce the level of contamination, but do nothing towards cleaning the pollution that does reach the atmosphere.
Areas such as Los Angeles and Mexico City have pollution situations that can make the air unfit or even dangerous to breathe. Although substantial efforts have been made to assess the dangers of such pollution, and to find solutions, these efforts have not yielded a great deal of improvement. To solve these pollution problems, an efficient, large scale and economical system is needed.
The present invention does provide a means for cleansing pollution from the air, and accomplishes this through the use of convection towers. These towers are capable of economically removing particulate matter, and reducing the level of carbon dioxide and other gases. Various embodiments of the invention are also capable of producing electricity and large quantities of fresh water.
By way of example, the Los Angeles basin contains approximately 15,000 square kilometers of land, with most of the area's pollution being created in an area of only 3,000 square kilometers. The pollution depth below the inversion layer is normally approximately 500 meters, so it is only necessary to clean about 1,500 cubic kilometers of air every one or two days. Installations consisting of several of the present invention can accomplish this level of air cleaning.
Other researchers have proposed the use of filters for removing particulate matter from the air. However, because of the very large quantities of air that must be processed in large scale systems, the energy requirements to force the air through the filters would be enormous. Replacement and disposal of filters would be labor intensive and expensive. Additionally, the processed air would have about the same density as the dirty air, making it difficult to prevent immediate mixing of the two, unless suitable prevailing winds are present.
The present invention, although it requires substantial structure, accomplishes the cleaning of pollutants from the air using straightforward applications of natural forces. That is, water sprays precipitate out the pollutants, and the evaporation of the water creates strong winds through a chimney which pulls the air to be cleaned through the spray, and also can be used to drive turbines to produce electricity.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide apparatus capable of cleaning pollution products from large quantities of air.
It is another object of the present invention to provide apparatus which can, in addition to cleaning air, generate electricity, at least a part of which is used to pump water up to sprayers in a tower.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.